A Knight to Remember

Alt-country troubadour's bootleg set finally becomes legal.

Eleven years ago, singer-songwriter Chris Knight, armed with only an acoustic guitar and a copious amount of alcohol, recorded a batch of songs in his Kentucky trailer. For years, alt-country fans have swapped copies of what became known as the trailer tapes. Last week, The Trailer Tapes joined Knights four albums as an official release. I remember drinking a lot and having a pretty good time when I made them, he says.

On last years terrific Enough Rope, Knight (who still lives in Kentucky) checked in with a raspy, twangy, and socially conscious take on modern-day Americana. It sorta fused Steve Earles badass outlaw-country with John Mellencamps working-man blues. The Trailer Tapes is a more solemn outing, reflective of Knights emotional state at the time. If I were to rewrite some of the songs, he says, Id change probably 40 percent of them. A few of the tracks (like Something Changed and If I Were You) showed up on other albums. But Knight says most of the decade-old cuts remain a hazy part of his past. A lot of the stuff is pretty rough, he admits. But theyve always been in the back of my mind.
Thu., April 12, 8 p.m.